


the sun shines still

by diebusmine



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Happy, Hurt/Comfort, Hyuckhei, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Suicide, Nohyuck, Slice of Life, Sweet, actual death probably, markhyuck, only a little bit, this is kind of sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-07 07:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14076009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diebusmine/pseuds/diebusmine
Summary: Donghyuck lives his life with all the emotions he can portray.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this... this fic will be really messy - just a reminder  
> i'll try to keep it as organized as possible, without having to take out my goal of it being purposely messy. do u guys get me 
> 
>  
> 
> if youre not comfortable with mentions of death, suicide, and anything somewhere along those lines, please dont read

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i completely changed the course of the story :^) sorry

 

 

 

Donghyuck realizes his bedsheets are getting filthy, as he scans each and every valley and mountain of what was supposed to be of a properly made bed. Some parts are damper than usual from his sweat. The pillowcases have lost their color. The morning sun doesn’t penetrate through his window, the curtains doing their job just fine, and it makes his room gloomier than usual. The chemistry book he’d despised ever since with all the other books he’d so dejectedly abandoned lay on the floor, scattered and broken and crying their words out on the dusty floor.

 

His room is messy, and he doesn’t think about the growing smell within the womb that was once his comfort.

 

It’s fine, everything is all good. Nothing won’t change, Donghyuck thinks. Reassures.

 

Donghyuck sees a half-eaten chocolate bar on top of the unusually high shelf just above his study table. How it got there, he doesn’t remember.

 

He’s sweating, his eyes are puffy and he wants to cry more than ever.

 

But it’s all good, nothing won’t change, and so Donghyuck takes a deep breath. The stool wobbles, and everything is blurry.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Donghyuck likes to write. Not the I-want-to-be-an-author kind of gist. He keeps a journal, and likes to write everything and anything on it. Treats the collection of blank pages like it’s a therapist or just whoever wants to listen to him.

 

 _Just because,_ he tells Jaemin one day, when Jaemin asks him why he’s never actually told anyone the depth of his overgrowing problems, because Donghyuck  _has_ mentioned having them. A slip of the tongue, is all, but it’s no sin to say one has problems, really, because everyone has them. It’s not news.

 

Not like Donghyuck needed the slip-of-the-tongue bullcrap for Jaemin to realize, not with Donghyuck’s sinking eyes walking invisible paths towards Jaemin.

 

“Yeah, but you can always talk to me, you know,” Jaemin insists, looking up from the Physics book he’s currently reading, glasses perched on top of his nose.

 

Jaemin was once his classmate, but Donghyuck had dropped out, they only see each other rarely and whenever they do, it’s only for a good few hours. They still keep in touch but it’s not a lot of interaction when it’s only texting a few times a week. But it’s all good, Donghyuck reminds himself. At the very least he appreciates Jaemin’s effort.

 

Donghyuck only shrugs and earns a scowl from Jaemin. The silence after doesn’t help. Everyone has their own thing, and Donghyuck’s just happens to be ‘keeping my problems to myself, thank you very much.’

 

He  _has_  a reason; he has lots. Donghyuck just doesn’t allow them to pass through the rusted gates and into the open. Like a worm in broad daylight, waiting to be snatched by a bird, Donghyuck is vulnerable. Donghyuck hates being vulnerable.

 

 

As long as he can let it out without anyone knowing, Donghyuck thinks it’s fine. That’s why he’s settled on pen and paper. Donghyuck is able to let out the weariness he’s been hiding, alone in his room, with just the soft sound of scribbling to keep him company. The times he’s spent alone in his room are the times when he feels the safest.

 

The wind blows, and Jaemin breaks the silence. “Sorry, Hyuck, I really gotta go,” he says. Jaemin’s last class is in 3 PM. He’s late.

 

Donghyuck only nods, doesn’t bother looking up from his inspection of the crack on the table. Donghyuck doesn’t understand why Jaemin felt the need to apologize. The afternoon breeze feels nice on his skin, and it’s a nice feeling to _feel_ nice _._ He stays that way for a few, eyes still on the evident crack on the edge of the wooden table in the public park where Donghyuck and his friends usually meet. The breeze feels nice, and he wants to feel that way forever.

 

Minutes pass and Donghyuck realizes that he probably looks like some sicko staring at the table by himself. It’s probably better to not sulk in public—not like he’s actually sulking – but some people tend to judge others without reasonable context, so he decides to get up and go wherever his feet take him. Probably to his own apartment, because where else can he go? Mark is probably sleeping right now in that damn air-conditioned hospital room. 

 

So Donghyuck heaves a sigh, sits up straight and stretches his arms above his head. Maybe he should start looking for a job.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/diebusmine) :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapters 1-2 are like... the introductions.  
> chapter 3+ will (hopefully) involve concrete story lines :)

“I’m gonna fucking die.”

 

Donghyuck looks up from the worn-out couch of one the hospital’s worn-out private rooms. He’s sprawled out on the abnormally huge chair, taking up most of the space in the corner of the room. He doesn’t complain, “this is actually much better than my bed,” he remembers telling Mark about it the first time he visited his friend.

 

Donghyuck raises a brow and looks at the other male in the room seated on the hospital bed, the only thing in the room that’s not ancient and creaky. Everything is old but at least the room is air-conditioned.

 

“You’re not going to die,” Donghyuck grunts as he heaves himself to sit up straight on the couch, his back aching from the uncomfortable position he’s in.                                                                          

 

Mark was involved in a car accident five weeks before. A 10-wheeler truck had gone out of control and had hit Mark’s car head-on. A pedestrian died, but both Mark and the truck driver survived.

 

 “Dude, this is like, so surreal,” Mark exclaims. “What if I don’t survive this shit?”

 

“You’re _not_ going to die, Mark,” the nurse, Ms. Wei who was in the room all this time, heaves a sigh heavier than Donghyuck’s. She’s been assigned to the boy ever since Mark was admitted, and they’re actually _this_ close to being best friends. “And how many times do I have to tell you this –broken ribs. They’re healing. And you’re out by after four weeks.”

 

“I still want to know how you survived that crash though,” Donghyuck speaks up and earns an _I’ve no fucking idea_ from the other.

 

He vaguely remembers seeing Mark’s car being totally wrecked on the busy highway. When Donghyuck, Jeno, Jaemin, and Taeyong rushed to the ER they were met with a really bloody and unconscious Mark, laid down on one of the hospital beds. There were a few nurses circling him, a doctor entering the scene thereafter, and Donghyuck had fought the urge to shove them out of the way just to see Mark up close.

 

The memory doesn’t help him in any way. The moment he’d stolen a glance at the twisted metals and broken glass of what was supposed to be Mark’s car, Donghyuck was on the verge of crying his heart out, because there was blood and skin on the rough asphalt road, because he thought Mark had died, and Donghyuck knows Mark has got a lot to live for.

 

But it doesn't help that Mark is emotionally weak. When the news spread two years ago about Mark’s parents separating, Mark ran away from home for a few nights, and God knows where he stayed back then. Everything went downhill from there, and it signaled the first silent fall of dominoes that’s lined up towards Mark. The pieces, without fail after that incident, always go toppling down one after the other until the last inclination hits Mark heavily. Donghyuck can actually imagine Mark lining up the dominos one after the other, again and again, after every fall, and Donghyuck really wants to help but he’s got unsteady hands himself.

 

When Ms. Wei leaves the room, only then did Donghyuck get up from the couch. He stretches a bit and finds his way to the foot of Mark’s bed, eyes set on the other’s weakened figure. Donghyuck’s never broken anything before, and he can only imagine how Mark feels whenever his favourite TV show cracks a funny joke.

 

“How you feeling?” Donghyuck asks.

 

Mark doesn’t answer immediately, instead stares at Donghyuck in amusement. The other only shrugs, only waits for an answer.

 

“I feel like shit.” Mark grins, and so Donghyuck smiles, too, because it has been a good while since he’s seen Mark smiling like this, without the slight grimace on his face whenever his facourite show _does_ crack a joke, because his ribs are _definitely_ having fun raining on his parade.

 

“Think you’ll be okay after?”

 

Mark’s parents’ divorce is still on the process of completely closing up and being confined within the walls of a seemingly uninviting room with his own injuries doesn’t help Mark in any way at all.

 

The total uncertainty as to how long Mark is able to ignore the constant nagging and tugging of the worn-out pieces of memories with his family being complete hurts Donghyuck so much. How Mark has survived without his parents is baffling to Donghyuck, because Mark and his parents have always been so close.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I’ll be okay, I just need to have a future goal to look forward to,” Mark answers nonetheless, as he leans his head backwards and stares at the ceiling, “that would at least give me something positive to wake up to, you know, even if it isn’t as sheer as I would want to it to be.”

 

Donghyuck only nods. Even he’s had a hard time keeping himself up and about even before he dropped out of college—he’s still trying to, even now-- where he sometimes blows everything out of proportion, where he doesn’t tell anyone anything at all because he keeps things to himself.

 

But then he pans back to Mark who’s had it worse than him, and it gives Donghyuck a little bit of a widened perspective. 

 

Jaemin has reminded him countless times that he needs to be able to define himself outside the never ending misconception of man not being able to move freely on his own, that Donghyuck should be where he can define his freedom in a way that is practical to the him in the now.

 

Marks legs shuffle within the confines of the white blanket as he places himself on the bed in a more comfortable position before calling out to Donghyuck, who was suddenly engrossed in his thoughts. “Hey, hyuck,” he says.

 

 “What?”

 

“Jaemin texted me a few hours ago.” Mark clears his throat and doesn’t look directly at Donghyuck. “How’ve you been lately?”

 

 _Here we go_ , Donghyuck groans to himself and Mark can visibly see the change in the other man’s expression, and he knows Donghyuck doesn’t really want to talk about it, but Mark pushes on, still.

 

“Don’t sweat it.” Donghyuck waves a hand towards his friend and rolls his eyes yet again. “It’s just me blowing shit out of proportion.”

 

“Well, I can kind of get the gist but- does- uh, when did it exactly start?”

 

“When did _what_ exactly start?”

 

Mark doesn’t answer immediately, and opts to find the right word but gives up halfway. “Your… that--...” Mark gestures towards Donghyuck, hands flailing, trying to explain what he’s talking about. Of course Donghyuck gets it.

 

Donghyuck shrugs, forces his eyes on the empty plastic bottle on the foot of the couch. The words on the bottle seemingly more interesting than normal. Not like Donghyuck can actually read the tiny letters.

 

“I mean you-you get it, right? I kind of wanted to talk to you about it, actually, because you keep everything to yourself and I know for one that isn’t healthy. But then the accident happened. You can talk to us about it, Hyuck.”

 

The guilt creeping up within Donghyuck’s veins makes it hard for him to move; they just want to help, that’s all there is to it, but he doesn’t lean on them, instead stands on his own weary self just to look strong. They won’t use it against him, his friends aren’t some dumbasses who’ll take advantage of his problems just because they can.

 

But there’s his cowardice, and then there’s his pride, standing insanely tall, guarding the flooded gates of his emotions and Donghyuck has tried coaxing them to give him the key at some point, but he remains unheard, and Donghyuck doesn’t push it. He’s tried it a couple of times, tried begging and pleading and insisting but to no avail. Every time he does so, he always walks away with slumped shoulders. He’s made them guard the gates, and he’s made them grow until he has to crane his neck to talk to them.

 

And so Donghyuck keeps it to himself again.

 

“I’m good, don’t worry your ass about it.”

 

“It’s not _good,_ Hyuck, and you should know that. It’s unhealthy. We’re just really worried about you.”

 

Donghyuck can only take a deep breath, and he doesn’t know why but he lets out a laugh. He decides a little white lie won't hurt. “I’m- I honestly don’t know when this shit started, Mark. Just… one day I woke up and…” he doesn’t continue and instead waves his hands as if to make a point.

 

There’s a knock on the door then, a female nurse opens the door and peeks out her head, and reminds Donghyuck that visiting hours are over.

 

“Well, gotta leave,” Donghyuck quickly gets up from the bed. “Worry more about yourself Mark, you’re the one on the hospital bed.”

 

“Which doesn’t take away the fact that you— “

 

Mark gets cut off short, because Donghyuck is out the door before Mark can even finish. The room becomes weirdly silent, and he finds himself missing the other boy already.

 

Mark runs his fingers through his hair and plumps down unto the white sheets of the bed, and he stays like that for a few, staring at the ceiling, until he lets himself be drowned by the coming sleepiness.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/diebusmine) :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> same old mistakes in writing :^)

 

 

Lee Donghyuck is a dropout.

 

Three months. He’s wasted a good three months trying to get out of his habit of being unexceptional at the things he does, of the things he wants to do. Tells himself it’s all in his mind, that he can do it – search for proper jobs that can get him somewhere at least.

 

Well, he did find a job. He’s been working at a fast food chain 15 minutes away from his apartment for a week now, but it hasn’t gotten him anywhere than being able to pay half of his rent.

 

It’s something. But it’s not enough, and he’s tired.

 

Donghyuck has been forcing himself. But every time the sun rises everything he’d planned the night before doesn’t wake up with him; they sleep, still, and they stay there, on his bed. Donghyuck doesn’t bother waking them up.

 

It’s a Monday today. The room is hot and humid and everything unpleasant. Jeno and Donghyuck are trying their best to at least feel comfortable laying on their backs on the tiny stools in the break room. Donghyuck’s legs are starting to go numb, the blood in his veins aching for the circulation they need. So he stretches them, legs now inclined on the cracked wall. His arms are dangling on his sides, fingertips just barely brushing the surface of the floor.

 

“Should I quit?”

 

Jeno is on his phone, the screen a little too close to his face, and it illuminates Jeno’s handsome features in the dim-lit room. He stops whatever he was doing and steals a glance at the boy beside him. “You started a week ago.”

 

“Yeah, but it’s not helping.”

 

 “Money doesn’t come in lightning speed.”

 

Well, he’s right.

 

“Why don’t you just ask your parents for money?” Jeno adds.

 

“They hate me.” Donghyuck scoffs. The last thing Donghyuck wants to do right now is knock on their front door. Not now when they hate him more than ever.

 

“Oh... sorry.” 

 

“No, I understand them,” Donghyuck answers. “I did something bad. They should hate me.”

 

“I’m sure you have your reasons, Hyuck.” Jeno reassures. Whether out of certainty or pity, Donghyuck doesn’t know.

 

But Jeno doesn't pry much further and Donghyuck is somehow grateful.

 

Donghyuck lets his legs fall to the floor and it emits a silent thump on the floor. A short thanks is all he answers and he doesn’t think about it much further. Donghyuck closes his eyes then, letting the coming drowsiness devour him at least until their short break is over.

 

A few ticks from the clock and Jeno glances at the other boy for a moment, previous engagements all gone right after Donghyuck closes his eyes.

 

“Hyuck?” he silently asks, and when Donghyuck doesn’t answer, Jeno slowly raises his arms from his sides and softly runs his fingers through the other boy’s brown locks, eyes locked on his tranquil face. But Donghyuck squirms a bit after a few, and Jeno stops abruptly.

 

The heat is getting to him and his head is in the clouds. But Jeno lets it be for now.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s hot. It’s really, _really_ hot. Beads of sweat are forming on Donghyuck’s skin like dews on morning leaves except it’s not the cool morning breeze that envelops him. It’s the ugly afternoon heat. The muffled chatters of the costumers radiate like a droplet of ink on water. The two air conditioners inside the restaurant doesn’t help much to his and everyone’s dismay. The scorching heat of the sun penetrates through the glass walls like an arrow through thin paper, an immerse spread of unpleasant heat when it hits the bulls-eye.

 

The break really didn’t help much either, because Donghyuck’s legs are already so close to giving up only fifteen minutes after the break. Jeno is on the far end of the restaurant keeping himself busy mopping the spilled coke on the floor and he mentally salutes Jeno for having such determination to even move a muscle.

 

It’s not bad, really. The heat, the smell, the stress. Donghyuck knows it’s not that much to falter over, and he honestly doesn’t know _why,_ but it affects him more than it should. More than he wants it to.

_Two more hours_ , Donghyuck reminds himself. Two more hours and he’s out of this hellhole, which ironically is the only place that’s making him able to pay rent and eat.

 

The surface of the table he’s currently wiping has already been rid off of whatever scraps of food there was, but Donghyuck is still absentmindedly wiping on it.

 

“Hyuck, you good?”

 

Donghyuck immediately turns his head towards the source of the voice, all the while realizing what he’d been doing.

 

 “You’ve been wiping that table for a while now, want it to shine or something?”

 

Doyoung.

 

“Sorry,” Donghyuck answers.

 

His coworker only gives him a smile, pats his back, and repeats his question. “You good?”

 

“Yeah.” Donghyuck smiles back.

 

“Don’t slack, alright? It’s only been a week.”

 

“Yeah, sorry hyung.”

 

“Don’t worry about it. Wouldn’t wanna get you fired.” Another reassuring smile, and Donghyuck doesn’t let it pass through his skin.

 

A few seconds of a more intense heat wave is felt when what seems to be a group of classmates enter the restaurant. They walk towards the empty table just in front of Donghyuck and they place their bags on the chairs, the three of them making themselves comfortable on the seats while the other two make their way to the counter.

 

Donghyuck busies himself with the other empty table beside them, careful not to be too obvious in his slacking, wary eyes on Doyoung’s figure in the background. The sweat on his forehead is beginning to gather, making their way through his cheeks like the tears he’d frequently let fall, and he wipes them with his weakened arms. He doesn’t let it bother him though. Not right now, not when there’s currently a rush of envy pooling in his stomach.

 

He watches the group of friends with a silent prick in his heart. It’s been too long since he’d properly hung out with his friends.

 

Chenle, Jaemin, Mark, and Renjun.

 

He remembers how they’d almost always eat out during weekends, with Chenle being their source of income most of the time. Chenle’s family had moved though, leaving the four of them with equally heavy hearts. The day before Chenle’s flight they joked about how they’d miss the free food more than him, but Chenle knew better, because the morning after Jaemin and Renjun wouldn’t stop crying, and Mark and him wouldn’t leave his side, only dejectedly parting themselves when the last boarding call for Chenle’s flight echoed throughout the airport.

 

He remembers how it started. How he realized girls didn’t attract him in any way at all, how he’d notice himself staring at Jaemin a little too long, how he’d stare at other boys in the café he’d frequently buy coffee from.

 

He remembers Jaemin and Mark, a few months after their second year of college started, when everything wasn’t of stressful days and busy schedules just yet, how they would nag Donghyuck into hanging out with them, how they’d ask him what’s wrong, and why Donghyuck doesn’t want to anymore.

 

He remembers telling his mom over the phone one day. God knows where Donghyuck found the courage to finally let it out of his quivering mouth, but he did. He remembers how his father called him after, how he shouted over the phone, his father’s looming voice echoing within the confines of his room, threatening him, how they’d stop supporting him if he won’t take back what he had said.

 

And he remembers how he decided to write on his journal, a good few months after lurking in his room, how he found comfort in it, in writing and of the thought of being alone, the silent screams of each letter resonating through his pen and into his veins—

 

“Donghyuck.”

 

 _Fuck_. Donghyuck immediately turns his whole body towards Doyoung in lightning speed yet again, ready to apologize. He’s met with Doyoung’s dissatisfied face, and Donghyuck’s stomach churns inwards because he’s heard from the other workers how Doyoung is when he’s pissed. He’s always been so strict, and the restaurant isn’t the least bit deserving of Doyoung’s management and promptness.

 

“Sorry, hyung!” he exclaims, hands clammy, unable to stay still on his sides.

 

Doyoung only heaves a sigh, and Donghyuck may also have, too. “I know the heat is totally being a total killjoy today but get it together, Hyuck.”

 

Donghyuck mutters another sorry to the other male before he walks away, and only then does he notice that the group of friends on the table have been staring and listening to their conversation.

 

Shame and embarrassment crawl up in his skin and in the corner of his eyes he sees Jeno staring at him from the counter, visibly worried, but Donghyuck ignores him for now.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry my chapters are always so shortntntntnt


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> award: slowest fic ever  
> sorry

 

He meets Yukhei for the first time on a cold Sunday night after one of his weekly visits from Mark. After once again being nagged by the circulating nurse, Donghyuk finds himself sitting on the edge of the curb outside of the hospital, miserably staring into the busy highway, the traffic noise annoying him more than usual.  

 

The coming breeze gets to him like a bullet at gunpoint and he shivers, the coat he’s wearing doesn’t resist the crawling frost on his skin. The urge to get up and go back to his apartment is really, really strong, having had enough of the hospital smell already. But he’s just too tired to move, and he’s hungry. There clearly was a half-eaten cake on Mark’s table and Donghyuck mentally slaps himself for not towing it out with him.

 

“I’d fight the heavens for that fucking cake,” Donghyuck lets out a long groan, wallows himself in pity.

 

But his butt is starting to go numb so he fights the exhaustion. Just as Donghyuck starts walking an insanely tall guy bumps into him; the collision is weak, but he feels it more than he actually should, blames it on his hunger. He has to step back a little, right arm immediately gripping on the bricked wall for anchor, and Donghyuck may have noticed the tall guy steal a glance in his direction but heads straight to the Emergency Room nonetheless.

 

Donghyuck may also have noticed the tears on his cheeks, the lights from the highway illuminating them all the more. And in that short moment he feels a slight pang to his chest. The commotion in the ER just a while ago slams back to him and his heart aches all the more, and Donghyuck decides to stick his nose on the tall guy’s business and follows suit. Hunger be damned.

 

The room is strangely silent. The look on the tall guy’s face tells Donghyuck he isn’t the only one confused. He’s also completely covered in tears now, Donghyuck realizes from outside of the glass door.

 

The room isn’t completely empty, there’s an old couple sitting by the front of the waiting area and a woman is sitting on the opposite side. Both completely covered in coats and scarves.

 

The tall guy runs towards the nurses behind the counter and Donghyuck doesn’t enter the room just yet, not until one of the nurses leads the other male inside one of the open rooms on the right.

 

Donghyuck pushes open the door to the ER once the two are out of sight and places himself comfortably on one of the front seats on the waiting area, just a few seats away from the old couple. Donghyuck shudders, and he can’t decide if it’s the cold air suddenly getting to him or if it’s him remembering the first time seeing Mark inside one of the rooms.

 

He hears a loud noise in one of the rooms and the urge to peek inside comes through him like the coming breeze outside—just a little bit,  _just to check,_ he tells himself. Donghyuck doesn’t know why he wants to, because he really doesn’t have to do all this.

 

Maybe it’s because Donghyuck knows what it feels like; to receive a call, to leave everything behind just to get to the hospital, to stay calm all throughout the travel – only up to a certain extent, but it’s definitely there, and maybe he just wants to be there, just in case.

 

“Just in case  _what…_ Hyuck you dumbass,” Donghyuck breathes, mutters to himself, curled fingers within the confines of the coat’s pockets. He picks on the loose thread on the left pocket, the wait getting more anxious by the minute and the thread drags – Donghyuckl stops, because halfway through him pulling the thread he realizes it’s the only decent coats he owns at the moment, and ruining it all the more would totally lower it down a notch in the decency gauge.

 

A few more minutes of dread silence and the tall guy finally emerges from the room.

 

His eyes are puffy, and Donghyuck really want to get up and ask if he’s okay, but doesn’t get to, at least for now, because the tall guy starts walking toward him and chooses to flop down on the seat beside Donghyuck.  _Of all the empty seats,_ Donghyuck thinks, slightly amused but still incredibly worried.

 

Seeing as none of them is actually going to start a conversation, which Donghyuck understands, because who would, really, Donghyuck deems it likely to suck it up and talk to him first.

 

They’re total strangers. He doesn’t even talk that much with his friends now. But Donghyuck just wants to know if he’s okay. If he is, then good. If he’s not, maybe Donghyuck can lend an ear, and  _then_ go home and eat.

 

The tall guy is staring off in the distance, long fingers fiddling with what seems to be a candy wrapper. Donghyuck hesitates, but fakes a cough first—because that’s what any stranger would do to start a conversation. This works though, much to Donghyucks surprise, because the other guy turns his head to him. His eyes widen when he catches Donghyuck’s face, and Donghyuck follows suit, because  _holy shit_   _is he okay?_

“It’s you!” the stranger is the first one to speak. “You’re the one I bumped into earlier, right?”

 

Donghyuck smiles a bit, the expression on the other’s face treks into him. “Yeah, that was me.”

 

The boy groans and mutters an “I’m so sorry” to Donghyuck. “I think I hit you pretty hard, I was just so out of it. I’m really sorry.”

 

 “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

 

“I’m Yukhei, by the way,” the tall guy,  _Yukhei_ , introduces himself. “You are?”

 

“Donghyuck.” Donghyuck argues with himself if he should just go for it and ask him if he’s okay because at this point he can already hear his stomach crying for help. But he really wants to know, and so he asks. “Uh, what happened?”

 

The change in demeanor somewhat reassures Donghyuck though, because whoever is in the other side of the room right now is probably fine.

 

Yukhei laughs – Donghyuck raises both brows -- before saying “one of the nurses called me, told me my cousin got into an accident while riding his bike. And the nurse just… hang up on me. Without telling me any more details. And I freaked out. Obviously, who wouldn’t, right? Turns out my brother got distracted and hit a lamp post and broke his arm and bruised his leg pretty badly. He’ll be admitted for a few days.”

 

Donghyuck laughs at this, realizes what he just did and covers his mouth in embarrassment, but Yukhei just laughs with him. “That nurse was a dumbass, damn,” he adds.

 

Donghyuck strongly agrees.

 

“I thought my cousin died or something, I was a crying mess. You saw me.”

 

“Yeah, I did. You got me really worried, because my friend also got in a car accident a few weeks ago and I remembered how it felt to hear news like that.”

 

“Oh, is he okay?”

 

“Yeah, broken ribs. I’ve no idea how he survived but I’m really happy.”

 

Yukhei lights up upon hearing that. “So you’re visiting him?”

 

“Yeah, I was just about to go home when you bumped into me.”

 

“Oh, so you followed me? Is that why you’re here in the ER?” Yukhei smiles at Donghyuck, and Donghyuck can feel himself curling up into a ball because he definitely did follow the tall, crying giant of a man. “Why?”

 

“I-uh, I was worried. Like I said, I knew how you felt. And I thought I could somehow help you or whatever. Talk to you or something.” Donghyuck doesn’t know what to do next, he just wants to get this over with and go home and  _eat._ Yukhei is okay, and everything is fine and he’s hungry.

 

“Wow, thanks!” Yukhei beams at the smaller male, long arms swiftly making their way through Donghyuck’s small frame. “Thanks, man. Really appreciate it,” Yukhei adds as his hug tightens by the second.

 

Yukhei eventually lets go and Donghyuck stays still for a second and a half because this tall guy did not just hug him out of nowhere. “Don’t mention it.” Donghyuck fakes a smile. He decides this is definitely the time to go because his stomach is  _this_ close to bellowing like a whale. He clears his throat and proceeds to say “Well, I gotta go.”

 

“Oh, right.” Yukhei stands from his seat and Donghyuck follows suit. “Take care, man. See you around!”

 

“Yeah, see you around. Say hello to your cousin for me.” Donghyuck smiles.

 

“Sure thing!”

 

 

 

 

They meet again the day after their encounter.

 

“Donghyuck!” Yukhei’s voice echo through the silent hallways of the hospital, earning a disgruntling look from the old man sitting on one of the waiting chairs, weary eyes begrudgingly following the lanky figure as it runs towards them. 

 

“Oh, what are the odds.” Donghyuck says as he closes the door to Mark’s private room. They’ve been in there for two hours.

 

“Who’s that?” Genuine curiosity laces Renjun’s question.

 

“Yukhei. The guy in the ER I told you about.”

 

Renjun nods in understanding, “Damn, he’s tall as fuck.”

 

“Hey!” Yukhei waves a hand as soon as they’re only a meter away. “You visiting your friend? Oh- hello, I’m Yukhei,” he says when Renjun peeks from behind Donghyuck.

 

“Renjun. Nice meeting you,” Renjun smiles back, eyes vaguely tracing Yukhei’s height.

 

“We were just about to go back, actually.” Donghyuck explain.

 

“Great timing, you wanna visit my cousin?” Yukhei beams at them yet again, and the pair doesn’t have it in them to refuse the offer, and so had a mutual agreement through eye contact that yes, they’d  _love_ to visit his cousin.

 

 

“Hyung, you got visitors!”

 

Yukhei’s cousin, who  _was_ clearly sleeping and suddenly woken up from his deep slumber raises a brow at the two unfamiliar guests. He mutters a “hello” and a “whoever you guys are” more to himself but he’s sure the pair has heard him.

 

Renjun snickers. Donghyuck hits him with his elbow.

 

“Guys, this is my cousin, Sicheng.”

 

After taking a really good look at Yukhei and Sicheng, Renjun shifts uncomfortably and whispers to Donghyuck. “They’re insanely good looking people what are we still doing here with our dumb clothes and hair,” Donghyuck snickers and hits him with his elbow once again, a little weaker this time.

 

Yukhei walks towards Donghyuck and circles an arm around his shoulders. “Hyung, this is Donghyuck, the guy in the ER I told you about. And this is his friend, Renjun,”

 

Sicheng evidently lights up as Yukhei mentions Donghyuck’s name. “Oh, so you’re that guy! Listen, I’m sorry I made you worry. I just wanted to shop and that damned nurse really fucked Yukhei up.”

 

“Yeah, Donghyuck told me that Yukhei over here was a crying mess,” Renjun pipes up and Donghyuck is trying really hard to control the urge to hit Renjun again.

 

“Renjun,” Donghyuck snarls. “Shut the fuck up.”

 

It turns out that Sicheng just wanted to buy food, the convenience store only a few blocks away from their shared apartment. “I didn’t wanna walk so I used my bike. After I paid the cashier I suddenly felt the urge to pee and Yukhei here knows I have zero control of my bladder—“

 

“You should check that shit out man, that’s unhealthy.”

 

Donghyuck groans. Why does Renjun have to pipe up every time he sees the chance?

 

“Right. Yukhei, please remind me to tell the nurse. Anyway, I really wanted to pee and I knew from experience the convenience store’s bathroom is shit so I decided to just hold it in—despite the extremely strong urge—and drove back home. A little faster than usual. A little too fast, to be honest. Next thing I knew I hit a pole.”

 

Yukhei is grinning all the way through the story, and Donghyuck finds it extremely funny when he remembers the same man from yesterday. He finds it charming how Yukhei’s eyes crinkle when he smiles a little too much, and he finds himself smiling, too, not at Doyoung’s story but at Yukhei, and Donghyuck takes note of how the green hoodie he’s wearing fits him perfectly. The rays of the afternoon sun he’s hated so much illuminates yukhei’s features from the couch he’s seated on and donghyuck thinks the sun isn’t so bad after all.

 

 ---

 

“That was fun,” Renjun says once they’re outside of the hospital. They bid their goodbyes once Renjun reminds Donghyuck about his extra classes. Donghyuck has work in an hour, too.

 

“A bunch of weirdos, that’s what they are,” Donghyuck quips, all the while looking through his messages. He reads a text from Jeno about a new job opening and tells Renjun about it. “Should I take it?”

 

“You still short on money?” Renjun asks, and Donghyuck nods at this.

 

“Then maybe you should.”

 

“Yeah, maybe I should.” Donghyuck mutters as he sends a message to Jeno.

 

“Glad I bumped into you, Hyuck, good thing we picked the same day to visit Mark,” Renjun pipes out of nowhere. “It has been a good while, huh?” He smiles, more to himself.

 

“Yeah, you’re as shitty as ever.”

 

“Same to you.” Donghyuck hits Renjun with his elbow a little harder this time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/diebusmine) :)

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/diebusmine) :)


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